Studies today are showing the link between chiropractic care and high blood pressure.  The University of Leeds in England published a study August 1, 2007 in the Journal of Neuroscience that proved a distinct linkage between the muscles of the neck to the brain, and that this linkage is crucial to controlling blood pressure.

Although this may come as a shock to some, it has been known for decades that Chiropractic has a positive effect on organ systems of the body and does dramatically help improve and also maintain total health.

WebMD a very well known medical information website did a report back in 2007 called Chiropractic Cuts Blood Pressure: Study Finds Special 'Atlas Adjustment' Lowers Blood Pressure, which you can search the web for and find the article.  WebMD reports that an average of 14mm/Hg drop in systolic pressure (the top number) and an 8mm/Hg drop in the diastolic pressure (bottom number).  These findings are more powerful than taking two blood pressure medications at once!

There have been numerous other news stories, research stories, and studies performed all leading to the same results and findings.  However, most information like this gets buried very quickly because this is very bad for business from the perspective of “big pharma”.  The effects shown in the studies are attributed to the specific chiropractic adjustments made which directly influence the nervous system.  The nervous system is arguably the most important system in the body controlling all other systems and is the direct information highway to your brain.

When it comes to blood pressure there have been significant findings that subluxations of the atlas, also known as the first cervical vertebra will often cause high blood pressure.  Adjusting and correcting the subluxation of the atlas can cause a substantial decrease in overall blood pressure in as little as a few minutes.  For some people only a few adjustments are needed to keep blood pressure from rising but for others it can take a series of adjustments and a wellness program to maintain the atlas in its proper position.

Jim Deuchars a professor at University of Leeds states in a research article "By identifying the pathways we can see why these treatments might work and it could also explain why some people suffering whiplash injuries may experience a change in their blood pressure."  In conjunction with this it directly coincides with the research done at the University of Chicago’s Medical Center’s Hypertension Center.  This research has been published in the Journal of Human Hypertension and showed that all participants in the study that received chiropractic adjustments had a dramatically reduced blood pressure, compared to the groups that received no chiropractic adjustments.

If you think of the epidemic of high blood pressure among us today chiropractic adjustments are a very small price to pay to maintain your health completely naturally and drug free.  Just like all chiropractic adjustments this is completely non-invasive; there are no drugs or medications prescribed, because it is simply correcting your body to function properly.  The Chiropractic Center often sees these results with its patients, along with many other great side effects such as better mental clarity, better sleep, improved ADL, decrease in anxiety and depression, and a whole slew of others.  The important thing is to understand that there are other ways and that medication and surgery should be the last resort not the first line of defense.

As Franklin Roosevelt said “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Thomas A. Edison an inventor said, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

Fun Facts about our amazing body:  Our blood travels about 50 miles a day at a rate up to 3 feet per second and has about 60,000 miles of blood vessels to cover. This results in your heart pumping about 4000 gallons of blood a day!

Written with the assistance of Joseph Morreale, DC, The Chiropractic Center